Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Water Margin

Chapter 286 The Savior King Rises in the Magic World

Meanwhile, in the auditorium, the students were having their meal.

Ron stared at his plate, his brow furrowed. He forked a thin, long pepper sausage and couldn't help but spit out, "What the hell is the school doing? This is so perfunctory!"

"Do you guys remember how big this black pepper meat used to be? I think it's shrunk by at least half!"

Ron kept nagging and complaining.

Harry laughed and said, "Brother, hold your tongue. The situation at the front is tight, and food prices are soaring. We, who are in the rear, have no choice but to tighten our belts."

Ron hastily bit off half a sausage, still indignant, and muttered, "The quality of the food has dropped drastically."

Hearing their conversation, Hermione pushed a piece of paper in front of them, tapped it twice with one finger, and said, "The Ministry of Magic has also discovered this problem, and their solution has already been developed."

Harry followed Hermione's finger and saw the headline: "Ministry of Magic Prints More Gold Dollars, 10 Percent More Than Expected."

After reading it, Ron gasped and clicked his tongue, saying, "It seems the Ministry of Magic will never be short of money again. Now they can print their own money."

Harry shook his head and said, "Brother, that's both true and false. If we keep printing money like that, even though there will be more and more banknotes, the money will become less and less valuable."

Ron was stunned for a moment. "What do you mean? The more money you print, the less money there is?"

Seeing his expression, Harry figured he wouldn't be able to explain it clearly in a short time. So he turned to Hermione and said, "Big Sister and Sister Rowena are pressing us hard; we need to get these counterfeit coins made as soon as possible."

After saying this, he turned to Ron and said, "I still have an important matter to attend to, brother."

"Pick a few skilled and capable men and have them thoroughly investigate the terrain, streets, houses, and shops of Hogsmeade."

All the details were drawn into a picture book and brought along.

Upon hearing this, Ron's eyes lit up, and he couldn't contain himself, asking, "Harry, are you going to make your move?"

Harry shook his head and said, "Brother, you're too hasty. As the saying goes, even Heaven can't help someone who isn't prepared. Such an important matter requires careful preparation. If we lose, it will be utterly disastrous, and we'll never be able to recover."

When Ron heard him speak so solemnly, his thoughts of merging gradually subsided.

From then on, he followed Harry's advice and often led a few men to Hogsmeade to scout out the route and assess the situation.

Before long, they had thoroughly explored Hogsmeade. They knew which streets led to which alleys, which shops were next to which courtyards, which houses were high enough to be seen from, and which walls were low enough to be climbed over. They even knew every brick, tile, piece of wood, and stone perfectly.

During dinner in the Great Hall that day, Ron handed Harry a notebook. All the drawings and detailed notes were copied into it.

Harry took the book and examined it carefully. He couldn't help but beam with delight, slapping the table in praise, "Brother, you are indeed a meticulous person. You have now gained the upper hand in terms of location."

Ron showed no delight. After hesitating for a moment, he finally couldn't help but ask, "But Harry, aren't you going to look into the staffing situation at Hogsmeade?"

"I always felt that this was more important."

Harry calmly reached into his pocket, took out a booklet, and chuckled, "Brother, don't forget, there are quite a few Aurors from the Order of the Phoenix planted in Hogwarts."

Ron suddenly realized what was happening and breathed a sigh of relief. He stopped talking and buried himself in his food, devouring it all.

Harry then turned to Hermione and asked, "How's Rowena's work on deciphering the runes going? Has she encountered any difficulties?"

Hermione said, "It's not difficult at all. Madam Ravenclaw said that the runes on the banknotes can be completely deciphered by tomorrow at the latest."

"She even made me ask her how much counterfeit money you wanted to print."

Without a second thought, Harry immediately replied, "Thirty or fifty million is not too little, and eight or nine hundred billion is not too much. We will certainly put all our effort into printing it."

Hermione clicked her tongue in amazement upon hearing this.

The next morning, a newspaper office in Diagon Alley was acquired. Strangely enough, before the new owner had even settled in, he also acquired a printing workshop.

When the other newspaper colleagues learned of this, they were also surprised, but they didn't think about it in detail, simply assuming that it was just some idle trouble caused by a noble family.

Little did they know that the newspaper office had been secretly acquired by Harry to cover his tracks. The printing workshop wasn't actually used for printing newspapers; it was a workshop for producing counterfeit money.

The printing workshop has been working non-stop since it took on the job, and with the help of the house-elves from Hogwarts, it has filled its warehouse with hundreds of millions of gold coins in just three to five days.

After printing in this way for half a month, the warehouse had accumulated over a billion yuan in counterfeit money.

Harry originally intended to choose a suitable time to scatter the banknotes and shake up the market.

Unexpectedly, before the time was right, the Ministry of Magic issued another document, stating that it would print more gold dollars, this time the amount of over-issued was 30% higher.

When the document spread throughout the magical world of England, the goblins secretly rejoiced, saying that the plagued banknotes were finally going to collapse.

The wizards cheered, saying that prices were rising three times a day and that more money should be printed to solve the urgent problem.

A few wizards who were knowledgeable in Muggle finance were also annoyed, as they had already discerned from the official documents that the British Ministry of Magic was on the verge of collapse.

Hermione saw it more clearly and knew that the gold yuan was already riddled with holes and could not be repaired.

She went to Harry, rubbing her lips raw and her tongue raw, trying every possible way to persuade him to just throw away all those billions of counterfeit bills as soon as possible.

Harry was uneasy after hearing this.

Although he knew Fudge was incompetent, he had the support of wise men like Wissengamo. Those men were not to be trifled with; how could they bear to watch the gold yuan collapse?

He pondered for a long time, then remained still. He would wait until Fudge used all his skills to save his life with the gold yuan before striking decisively.

The saying "strike the snake at its seven-inch mark" illustrates this principle.

Unexpectedly, after a long wait, all the wise men sat upright in the high hall, and not one of them offered any help. Fudge did not offer any way to salvage the situation either, and simply printed the gold yuan notes like flowing water.

Therefore, in less than ten days, the amount of gold yuan notes issued had increased more than tenfold compared to the initial amount. The face value of the notes also rose accordingly, jumping from five hundred to ten thousand.

From then on, not a single person in the British wizarding world could be heard praising Fudge; complaints filled the streets, alleys, bars, and hotels.

Even at Hogwarts, there were daily complaints because the school's food was consistently poorly prepared.

Leftovers from breakfast are served in the evening. Today's food is reheated tomorrow. Three meals a day consist of nothing but leftovers.

Seeing this, Hermione became increasingly restless. Every day, except for nights when she rested, she would pester Harry whenever she had free time.

They threw away all of Curry's billions of dollars in counterfeit money.

"Harry, the Ministry of Magic has been smashed."

"At first, an ounce of dragon liver cost 140 yuan, but look at it now, it costs at least 1,400 yuan!"

"The only solution would be for the goblins of Gringotts to be willing to go to any lengths to help! But compared to the goblins being willing to help wizards solve their financial difficulties, I'd rather believe Voldemort has reformed!"

These words were absolutely reasonable and to the point.

Harry remained silent, then frowned and exclaimed in astonishment, "Damn it! That's really strange! Those sages went to so much trouble to protect Fudge, even if they were covered in dung, they'd still wipe his ass clean."

"Now that this fellow has caused such a huge disaster, why are you just ignoring it?"

Hermione's eyelids twitched incessantly at Harry's vulgar language. "Maybe those wise men of Wizengamor are just trying to make money off Fudge?"

"Don't forget, the wizards didn't send their gold to Gringotts; they took it all to the Ministry of Magic and exchanged it for gold dollars."

Harry frowned and said, "This kind of money-making method is like draining the pond to catch all the fish; it's the worst possible strategy. Those sages are all incredibly powerful and influential; they have disciples in the magical world of various countries."

"How could such a prominent figure resort to such clumsy tactics?"

Hermione asked helplessly, "So what are you planning to do?"

Harry pondered for a moment, then said firmly, "Let's print some more. Once the value of these gold yuan notes recovers slightly, I'll throw away all my billions of counterfeit bills."

"I simply don't believe that those sages and Fudge would really dare to cause the collapse of the magical world!"

Hermione was about to try to persuade him again, but Harry got up and left, waving his hand and saying, "My mind is made up, big sister, don't say any more."

Having said that, he lifted his foot and walked out.

Seeing this, Hermione swallowed back all the words of advice she had prepared and asked, "Where are you going?"

Harry said, "Let's go find Trelawney. We have the right place and the right people, we just need the right time to ask her for help."

A few days later, a student glimpsed a lightning scar in his crystal ball during a divination class. The prophecy he made stated that one person would conquer the three islands and unify the British magical world.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the school, and all the teachers and students who heard it were astonished.

Umbridge also found out the truth, and that very night she wrote several letters and sent them to the Ministry of Magic.

A few days later, a group of students who had ventured into the Forbidden Forest at night heard a horseman singing deep in the woods, neighing loudly to the sky and shouting things like "May the magical world prosper, and may the savior be king."

The two incidents combined caused quite a stir throughout the school. Although no one explained it, people kept glancing at Harry.

A few bolder individuals approached Harry directly and asked if he was planning a rebellion. Harry simply smiled and brushed them off with a few words.

Even when Ron and Hermione asked, they only said that the time was not yet right.

By late March, the gold yuan notes had become worthless. The daily printing of those notes was like a snowball, skyrocketing exponentially.

By this time, the issuance volume had reached trillions, and the large denominations had long since jumped from ten thousand to tens of billions, yet it was still not enough.

If parents were to send pocket money to the school, it would take three or four owls working together, their claws hooked onto a rope, the rope tied to a bag, to pull out dozens of kilograms of banknotes to deliver it.

When the students went to Hogsmeade to eat, drink, and have fun, they had to hire a Thestral carriage to carry bundles and stacks of gold coins up there, making the carriage full.

Those sorcerers from various countries who had traveled thousands of miles to pay homage, eager to learn how to use this paper money, had already packed their bags and left quietly overnight.

Newspapers immediately turned their attention to ridicule and questioning. The public continued to hurl insults and calls for Fudge's resignation.

That day, Harry was having dinner in the Great Hall when he saw the vivid photos of various parades in the newspapers, and thought to himself:

Now, the right time, the right place, and the right people are all in place.

He summoned Hermione and Ron, and whispered in their ear, "When the eldest sister and brother summon everyone to the secret chamber, they will be plotting something big."

Upon hearing this, both of their hearts skipped a beat, and they both nodded emphatically.

That night, after everyone had eaten their fill, they went to the secret chamber in twos and threes. Pushing open the door, they saw Harry sitting upright in front of the statue of Guan Yu, but he did not say a word.

As everyone was wondering what was going on, he raised his hand and asked, "Would those brothers be willing to go and bring Umbridge to me?"

Before he could finish speaking, Colin had already raised his hand and was the first to go. He called a few of his close friends, rushed out the door, and dashed off towards the castle.

After waiting for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, footsteps sounded outside the secret room. The door was pushed open, and Colin rushed in first, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Harry, I brought him back!"

The Umbridge cult members, three or five strong men holding him down, his face filled with panic, cried out, "What are you doing? I... I'm a professor!"

Harry snorted and slammed his fist on the ground as he stood up. "You old hag, asking such a nice question! What kind of bastard have you done and you're pretending not to know?"

Umbridge panicked even more, her legs trembling violently, and she screamed, "I've never offended you!"

Harry sneered, "Ha! You've never offended anyone else, but you've offended me!"

Having said that, he reached into his robes, pulled out several letters, and tossed them aside, shouting, "Speak! You sent letters to the Ministry of Magic, accusing me of inciting students, claiming that the prophecy is proven and that I will surely rebel. What does that mean?!"

Upon hearing this, the students all reached out to grab the letter hanging in mid-air and opened it by the candlelight. Sure enough, every word was exactly as Harry had said.

Umbridge's face instantly drained of all color, even the fair skin of Li Zhuang paled in comparison.

Her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto her bottom. Her plump lips stammered for a long time, but she couldn't utter a single word.

Harry continued, "The house-elves I sent out only intercepted eight bird messages, while you sent out nine. Am I wrong to say that?"

Umbridge trembled for a moment, then suddenly shuddered and cried out in alarm, "Wait! I can explain to the Ministry of Magic for you!"

"This, it's all just a misunderstanding!"

Harry flew into a rage, saying, "What's the point of trying to cover it up! I'm devoted to the country, but Fudge is such a petty person!"

"Now, with you stirring up trouble, that fellow is becoming increasingly intolerant of me! At this point, whether I rebel or not is entirely up to me..."

They can no longer make their own decisions!

Having said that, he drew the Gryffindor sword and plunged it straight into Umbridge's heart.

Before Umrich could even cry out, his eyes wide open, he fell backward and died instantly.

Harry drew his sword, wiped it twice on her clothes, and looked around at everyone, saying, "When officials force people to rebel, they have no choice but to rebel. Today, I will fight that Ministry of Magic to the bitter end."

"Sisters and brothers, those who do not wish to get involved in this mess, each shall take one trillion gold dollars as part of your farewell travel expenses."

The crowd was already furious at Umbridge's tattling, and when they heard about the "golden yuan," their anger surged to the top of their heads. They immediately started shouting and clamoring, all wanting to live and die with Harry.

"Let's fight them! Harry! I'm with you!"

"I swear to follow you to the death, Mr. Potter!"

"Let's fight the Ministry of Magic! Ever since they got their hands on those damn gold yuan notes, I haven't had a decent meal in ages!"

Harry glanced at the angry crowd below and thought to himself:

That would mean seven-tenths of the task was accomplished.